Doctrine wisdom and a challenge from Acts 9
Category: Evangelism & Soul Winning
Key Passage: Acts 9
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: August 6, 2025
Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Acts chapter number nine. Acts chapter number nine. We have been in the book of Acts for months now, and we have taken two weeks off. Brother Bill did a good job last week; I enjoyed that. We are going to get back to the book of Acts tonight. Acts chapter number nine.
Acts chapter 9 is one of those very familiar, very popular chapters. It is the conversion of Saul. We got the first part of that a couple Wednesdays ago. Just a little bit of detail, no big deal, but we—and I have done it before—said that is when his name was changed from Saul to Paul. Actually, it did not happen then. Paul was not mentioned until later on in chapter 13. One was probably a Roman name, one was a Jewish name. Probably Paul was the Roman name, if you will, and of course he is an apostle to the Gentiles, so probably why that name was used so much later on. But his life was dramatically changed, no doubt about that, when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Don’t get that thing right, right? Damascus. Was he going to Philippi or Damascus?
Come on now, you are quiet. I am trying to get you listening, engaged here. There is a long trip—over 135 miles as the crow flies, so by the road, maybe 200 miles, who knows? They did not have the vehicles you drive now. Some of you were getting here, you know, the 6 o’clock is rough, you know. You are pulling in the parking lot, you are tired from smoking, you know, and I see people nudging each other there on that, you know, but that is a long trip. And they were getting close to Damascus.
I like the way the Bible words it: “a light from heaven.” That is the exact wording of it. You know, you are praying for someone to get saved? Pray for a light from heaven to come in their life. That is what Paul needed. He was stubborn, and God had been convicting him. He was not listening.
The first thing Jesus said to him was, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” As far as we know, Saul was not there when Jesus was being crucified on the cross. No, but when some of God’s followers—Christians—get persecuted, Jesus says that is just like you are persecuting. It means something to the Lord when the person at work is ignoring you because you are a Christian. That is persecution for us in America, you know. But when you are persecuted, He knows all about it. He cares about it.
Then Paul, of course, said, “Who art thou, Lord?” I like it; Jesus did not say, “I am Jehovah Witness.” He said, “I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.” “And it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” I mean, that prick, the ox goad. Probably since Stephen was murdered, he could not sleep at nighttime. He kept thinking about that guy that was getting killed for Jesus, and his face was glowing, and he looked up to heaven, and I see Jesus standing on the right hand of the Father. Look, when someone is dying, if it is a fake thing, they are going to recant. Imagine Paul all those days and nights; he had been pricked. He had been convicted, and he was kicking, resisting it. And the Lord said, “Hey, I am Jesus.”
Then Paul said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” I like it. I think he just got saved, and he was surrendered. I mean, I love it when someone gets saved, boom, they just sold out for the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what is going on here. The Lord said, “I am going over to Damascus, and it will be told you what to do.”
And then this man, Ananias—Ananias was the disciple of the Lord—and he is in this city. The Lord said, “Go over to that street called Straight.” That would be a good street to live on there, you know. “Go over that street called Straight, and you will find a man named Saul of Tarsus. I want you to go over there and meet with him a little bit.” And Ananias said, “Oh, Lord, I have heard about him. He has been locking up those Christians. He has been locking us up, persecuting us, and making havoc of the church.” The Lord said, “No, no, no. He is a chosen vessel. He is praying. I met with him on the road. He is one of mine now.” And Ananias goes over there to him.
Now, I want you to notice, we are going to read just two verses. We are going to stand, read two verses, pray, and then we will talk for just a bit about a doctrine. Then we will try to get a little wisdom in there just for everyday living, for you and for others also. And then we will finish it off with just a little challenge tonight for the heart. We are going to try a little doctrine for our head, a little wisdom maybe for interacting with people, and a little bit for a heart, if you would, here in just a minute. We are in Acts 9. We are going to start verse number 17. Would you please stand tonight, Acts 9 and verse number 17?
Acts 9. Look at verse number 17. “And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said…” What is the next two words? “Brother Saul.” You are my brother in Christ. You are born in my family, the family of God. You are born again. You are redeemed. “Brother Saul, the Lord even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.” And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was…" What is the last word? Baptized.
Would you pray with me? God, would you kind of teach us some doctrine? You probably ought to know the doctrine, but I want to try to help us where you can defend—I do not know if that is the right term, defend—or give an answer. The Bible says, “Be ready always to give an answer to those that ask.” It is interesting, to those that ask, 1 Peter 3. But I will help you with that a little bit. You probably already there, but help you maybe a little bit more on doctrine and a little wisdom and a challenge. Would you pray with me?
Father, Lord, would you grow us? Lord, would you help us to be equipped when a co-worker or friend or relative comes and asks why we do not believe baptism is part of salvation? Father, would you give us wisdom so we can be patient with ourselves as we are growing and with others? Lord, maybe help another one that is wanting to be full grown overnight, if you would, Lord. And then, Father, would you challenge us to reach out and befriend and love the unlovely? Father, we will thank you for what you do. Father, we ask for these things in the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
I think you probably got it, but you notice right there in verse number 17, he says, “Brother Saul,” brother. He was already saved. He is already born again. In verse number 18, the last word is “baptized.” So, friend, he was the brother in Christ. He was saved before he was baptized.
I think most of the people here on Wednesday night, most every person here knows that baptism is not part of salvation, but I want you to be able to give an answer, especially in our area. When the Lord led us to come start a church in this area, I thought I better study up on that subject of baptismal regeneration. They call it: Does baptism save? Is that part of salvation or not? Because one major reason is because there are a lot of Church of Christ in our area.
Here is the thing about the Church of Christ. As far as their governing, they are independent. Their churches are self-autonomous. They are self-governing and ruling, and they do not have a convention ruling over them, like we do not have a convention ruling over us. In that aspect, we are similar; we are both independent. I said all that to say, within the Church of Christ, you will get a lot of different doctrines and things and flavors and variety inside the Church of Christ. Are you with me? They are all independent Churches of Christ; they are not led by like the Catholic hierarchy and so on and so on. But typically, a Church of Christ, and historically a Church of Christ, teaches that baptism saves; it is part of your salvation.
The scary part in that is if I am believing in baptism—maybe only 1%—then I am not believing 100% in Jesus.
I am not saying every Church of Christ is not saved. I do not know what is going on in their heart when they pray and ask Jesus to be their Savior. They are putting their full faith in Jesus, and they got saved for it. But you understand, it muddies the water, and it adds works into salvation. If they truly are believing in Jesus plus water, that is not biblical salvation. Remember what about over in Acts chapter 8: “If thou believest with all thine heart”? Remember that? Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.
So just for a minute—Ananias, I think most everyone believes baptism is part of salvation—but what would you tell someone if your co-worker came and said, “Hey, my uncle is saying baptism is part of salvation”? What do you have to say about that? This should be a good place. I am just going to try to keep it simple so maybe we can retain a little bit because I cannot get too intelligent anyway; it is above my pay grade, amen, you know. But look over in Mark chapter number 16. This typically is an easy verse to remember.
I used to use a man in our church named Mark, and he is shorter, so you could say he was 16 years old, but I thought it might offend him, and I do not want to do that. The way I think of it anymore is when I was a youth director, there was a guy that came into our youth department named Mark, Mark Oliver, and he was probably 15, 16 years old. I knew him; met him as a good guy living for the Lord today. So that is in my mind; I remember Mark 16, because if you just get Mark 16, well, it is 16, you got it all right.
So help me out tonight, trying to get us to retain a little bit. If somebody asks us about baptism, what will be a great scripture to take them to right off the bat? Help me out. What would it be? Good, good. Some of you are awake. Some of you are not, but some of you are awake, all right. Help me out. What would be a great place to take them to in the Bible? Good. I am getting you to say it on purpose, so maybe it will stick in our thick noggin, all right. Mark 16:16. Here we go: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.”
Now, if I just saw that part right there—and by the way, Churches of Christ do try to use that part right there—I will say, “See, it is right there in the Bible. Baptism is part of salvation.” And by the way, the Bible pattern is always: you believe in, then you get baptized.
But God wanted to clarify so no one will be mistaken about what part says. So look at the rest of the verse. God always clarifies if you keep reading into the Bible and studying it; He will make it clear. “But he that believeth not shall be damned.” So help me out, what part is the part that keeps from going to hell? Is it the baptism or the believing? It is believing; it is very clear in Scripture.
It is amazing to me. There used to be a Church of Christ—I take it still there—the church in LaVerne, Old Nashville Highway. They had on their church sign out front there Mark 16:16: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” But they would not finish the verse. You may have to start a jail ministry because I was so close to coming to that sign in the middle of the night with some letters or something and putting up the rest of that verse: “But he that believeth not shall be damned.” It is very clear in there. The part that keeps one from being damned, going to hell, is the believing in Jesus, not the baptism. It does not say that he that believeth and does not get baptized, or he does not say he that does not get baptized. He that believeth not—that is the part that saves. Be so careful.
It is not just the Church of Christ; they are the main ones, but there are a few others that teach baptism saves. The Church of Christ are not my enemy, though I have argued with a good amount of them over that. But they are not my enemies, but they are typically the ones that are going to push in our area that baptism saves. So if someone comes and says, “Well, my uncle, he is Church of Christ, and he says that baptism saves,” what will be a good place to take him to? Help me out.
Good. By the way, notice it is believing; it is not working. Baptism is… Look over, if you would, in Matthew 3. Matthew 3. This is not part of the main points, just a little side note. Trying to stick the three main points underneath this so we can kind of get these three things, but this is a little side note.
Jesus is coming to John the Baptist here saying, “Hey, would you baptize me?” And John the Baptist said, “I do not need to baptize you; you need to baptize me.” My goodness, you know. Jesus gives him an answer right here. Look in Matthew 3. It is a very important couple of words here. Look in verse number 15. Matthew 3:15: “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” So Jesus was getting baptized to fulfill all righteousness.
Here is what I am getting at: Baptism is a righteous act or deed. That is very clear from Matthew 3:15. What does Titus say over there? “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.” Remember that? So baptism is a righteous act or deed. If I am including baptism, I am including a righteous act. It is a good thing to do, but it is a work. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” So, no. If I add baptism to my salvation, then I am adding works to it, right? There is a little side note about Matthew 3:15, but it is very clear in Scripture that baptism is an act of righteousness. Titus 3:5 says that very clearly in Scripture.
So, number one, if someone comes and says, “Hey, my neighbor says that baptism saves,” what do you think? What would be a good scripture to take them to?
Good, and you want to make sure you read the whole verse, right? Yeah. You heard it said. You heard it, and I am not down on the Church of Christ. I am very friendly to them and love them, want them to get saved, and I think a good amount of them are saved. I do not know their heart. But you heard about when they went to heaven, and they are walking down the street, and there was this big building over there, and they were eating in there. They said, “That is the Baptists over there; they are eating.” And then they came to the next one down there, and they are just being loud, and, you know, they had all the instruments out and everything. They said, “Well, that is the Pentecostals over there.” And then they said, “Now be very, very quiet because the next one we are supposed to see is the Church of Christ.” They think they are the only ones up here. If you follow their doctrine, that is what they believe. They believe you are baptized into the church, and those are the ones that go to heaven. And you studied that out; that is true.
Here is another good place to go to. Look over in 1 Corinthians chapter number 1 and verse number 17. I am trying to help us retain. We have Mark—remember that teenage boy was about 16—so we have Mark 16:16. But then we will go over here to 1 Corinthians chapter number 1. So you have 16 plus 1. What does that equal? 17. So you have 1 Corinthians 1:17. Can y’all stick with my bibliology tonight? Vance is not the only one that has bibliology going; I have it going, I tell you what. I am trying to help you retain these things here. First Corinthians 1:17, Mark 16:16. And you have chapter number one, so now it makes it verse 17.
Here we go. It is Paul. God is speaking through Paul. He says, “For Christ sent me not to baptize.” Well, we could just stop right there. I thought he said over there in Mark 16:15, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” That is what it says in Mark 16:15. We just read the next verse. Well, over here, the great commission is go out, get people saved, get them baptized, disciple them, but over here He said Christ said we are not to baptize. Mark 16:15: Go preach the gospel. I mean, surely if baptism saves, He would send us how to get people baptized. But the first thing he starts off with here—I mean, the one that penned 13, 14 books of the New Testament—he says, “For Christ sent me not to baptize,” look at this next part, “but to preach the gospel.”
That part shows me that baptism is not a part of the gospel because he said, “For Christ sent me not to baptize.” My wife is lifting it over there for me. She tried to help me out. I always need all the help I can get, amen. “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” Baptism and the gospel are two different things. They are not the same. Baptism is not included in the gospel. The gospel is very clear in chapter 15: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Folks, He did not send him to baptize; He sent him out to preach the gospel. They are two different things. Yes, they are.
Baptism is important. I want people—I pray, I ask Sunday night, let us pray—how have you been praying for somebody to get baptized? You have been praying; I have been praying for that. Somebody gets saved, life to be changed. If they are going to grow, they have got to get baptized. It is always after you get saved; it is not part of salvation. “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel,” not with the wisdom. This is interesting: “not with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” I do not want to be so fancy in all my wisdom, my words, that it is just kind of across it in that big video. It is all about my presentation. It is all about the cross and Christ and the gospel. That is what He said. Oh, friend, no, no, no. He did not send me to baptize.
Another little side note. This is not a main note. Look over in John chapter number four, if you would please, John chapter four. I was talking to a Church of Christ member—I am not sure; I think he was a preacher. I am not sure about that. He wanted to argue, and he was ready for a couple of things. So I thought, well, let us go over here.
We went over to John 4 and verse number 2. John 4, verse number 2: “Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples.” Well, Jesus said, “I came to seek and to save.” That is what Jesus did. He left heaven, billions and billions of light years away. He came all the way down to this old world. He said, “I did not send him to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.” And yet Jesus said, “I did not come to baptize.” “I am not here baptizing.” Not what I am doing. Surely, if baptism saved, Jesus would have been baptizing everywhere He went. Clearly, friend, baptism is not part of salvation. It is wonderful. We are Baptists; I like it. I want the Baptist waters to be stirred, but that does not save. Jesus and Jesus alone saves, friend.
By the way, if we are Baptists, let us just be realistic about it for a minute here. Y’all out there tonight? Y’all still out there? If baptism saves, let us all get a pickup truck. Some of you men say amen right there. And let us put portable baptisteries in the back of our pickup trucks. If that truly saves, let us go everywhere with a baptistery in the back of our truck. If you can fit in your Volkswagen Beetle, I want to see that, you know. But let us just put baptisteries everywhere. If that truly saves, let us get baptisteries everywhere, and let us just go dunking people everywhere we can. Does that make sense if that baptism saves? I mean, surely. I mean, I can convince somebody to get baptized. Let us baptize them right there; that really saves. Now, let us just get wrapped up and let us go everywhere baptizing people. But friend, He sent me to preach the gospel, not to baptize. Two different things.
So help me out. If you go to a family reunion and Uncle Jim—you know what you are going to come to—and Uncle Jim says, “Hey, Brother Joe Haddon, baptism, I really believe it is part of salvation,” what will be a good verse to take him to at the beginning? Help me out. Good. And then from Mark 16:16, where could you go over to? Good. Easy to remember those. Easy to remember those things. It is. And then this one, we are not going to have a verse on it, just to make it a little bit easier. This is just kind of old school with the thief on the cross.
Here is what they will say: Of course, the thief on the cross did not get baptized; he was being crucified. They will say, “Well, that was a different dispensation. Jesus had not risen again, and it does not count.” Friend, we have an old school term for that. You call that baloney. You can put it together however you want to do that. Jesus said, “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.” They will argue it, and they have their comments about it, but it kind of sticks in there. Truth just rings.
By the way, you take that thief on the cross and you kind of put it in our day and time: If baptism saves, what about that folk? Maybe that man or that lady that Tim Nyland is witnessing to in the nursing home—they will never get out of the nursing home. Their health is so bad, they are never going to get baptized. Can they not get saved? Are they going to die and burn? They want to accept Jesus as their Savior. They want to put their faith in Jesus, but they are physically too bad off. They cannot leave the nursing home.
What about someone that is on their deathbed in the hospital? Someone calls the preachers. They say, “Hey, go what’s them.” I remember a man. We went up to Centennial about on this Wednesday night. Someone came to church and said, “Would you please go to my great-uncle? He is going to have open-heart surgery tomorrow. We do not think he is going to live. Would you go up there?” So, oh, let us go. He is having it tomorrow. We went up to Centennial, and we got up there maybe 9:30, 10 o’clock at night. The lights were all off. We kind of snuck in there. I think we scared him half to death first of all, coming in the middle of the night, and all the lights were out. He is trying to sleep before open-heart surgery. He is alone. Two Baptist preachers coming in—what in the world is going on?
What if it said, “Well, I like it after we present the gospel, you want to pray and ask Jesus to be your Savior.” That is wonderful, man, but all right, let us pray, but you better live through open-heart surgery because you have got to get baptized to go to heaven for Him. What do you think about that? If baptism saves, the thief on the cross, he is never going to get baptized.
That man in the hospital did get saved that night, and he lived through it, but he died a little bit after that. But he got saved because the water does not wash away your sins. The blood of Jesus Christ washes away your sins. That represents your sins being washed away. The baptism does not save; Jesus saves. Then you have a picture of your acceptance in Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection. It is a “like figure,” the Bible says.
So help me out one more time. We are going to move on to this next thing. We are just trying to get some doctrine, and I want you to be able to maybe tell a friend or a co-worker or someone. There are plenty of other places in the Bible, just trying to give a couple things. We just read already, Acts chapter 9, Brother Saul, verse number 17. The next verse he got baptized. He is already a brother in Christ. Plenty of places. But just for the sake of us trying to retain a little bit—I do not know about you, but the older I get, the harder it is to retain. Anybody else like me out there? Boy, I am there, both hands are up.
Brother Ricks is back into piloting. He is flying. The military needed another pilot, and so he is flying over—what was the one where they dropped the bunker busters, the big one? What was the name of that? One big facility, they dropped the 14-0. What was it? We will just say Iran. That will work. That will work. He is flying over Iran. He is about to come in there where they are going to start shooting off anti-aircraft missiles. And his co-pilot says, “Hey, is baptism saved or not?” What will be a good verse to take him to first? What would be a good verse?
Good. “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned.” The part that keeps from being damned is believing. See, that is interesting. He never saw that. My uncle mentioned the first part but never showed me the last part of that verse. Let me show you another verse. What is the next verse you can take him to? Good. “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.” Two different things. And then you could just kind of close it off with the third thing: Who was it? Not Jesus on the cross, but the thief on the cross. He was not baptized. Jesus said, “Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.”
Now we are going to move on, try to get a little doctrine in there so we can tell our neighbors, whoever asks. I want you to go back to Acts chapter 9 and see something here. Sometimes this can be a touch confusing, and I want you to see it. Acts chapter number 9, we are in verse number 19 now. Y’all still with me tonight? We are changing gears. Good deal. You are in verse number 19, amen? This side over here. You are in verse number 19 over here? Amen. Good deal. Ms. Stoner, you got it. She did not say amen, but she pointed her pencil at me, so she got it. I will take it. Good, good, good.
Here it is: “And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then were certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.” But all that heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?” But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ.
And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him. I think maybe the Jewish people say, “Man, he is on our side. He is zealous. He is a Pharisee. He has turned. He is Benedict Arnold.” Goodness gracious. He is going to hurt us if we—so they are going to kill him. Verse number 24: “But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.” Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.
Look at verse number 20. It is just the first part: “And when Saul was come to Jerusalem…” Now, I believe—and there is a little bit of controversy here; this little minor part is nothing to argue about—but I believe as soon as he got saved, he began preaching there in Damascus. Okay?
Then we are going to look here in just a minute and find out he went and spent some time elsewhere and then went to Jerusalem. Some will say right after he got saved, he went over in Arabia and then to Damascus and Jerusalem. I tend to think Arabia because it does say “straightway,” I believe it is, and that just means immediately he began to preach. By the way, when they get saved, man, they are just so excited; they are ready to tell everybody about it, and I like that. I like that. Man, they have the energy and excitement of a newborn baby in Christ. Let him use it for the Lord. That lady at the well did that.
But I do want to kind of leave a little note to notice: after he preached there, he did go and spend some time elsewhere. Would you look over in Galatians, please? Galatians chapter 1. Over here in Galatians, he is giving his testimony, and he is talking to them about when he got saved. I remember in this, Acts chapter number nine, with the Lord meeting him on the road to Damascus. It is just a wonderful time of him giving his testimony, and I want you to notice how he gives it. It does not contradict, but it adds a little bit to this point. We are going somewhere with this very briefly tonight. Verse number 13, Galatians 1.
Verse number 13: “For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it; And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.” By the way, be careful about traditions. Sometimes they are wonderful, but sometimes they are not. Tradition is not the big thing; the Word of God is the big thing. If it is tradition, it is worthy of looking at, whether it is good or bad. It was the Word of God; we are not going to change. He was zealous of the traditions of his fathers—dead wrong. He persecuted the church of God.
Verse number 15: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen: immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.”
Now here is what I am getting after. Here is what I am getting after. Yes, he did begin preaching right off the bat, but he had three years before he went to Jerusalem. Before we get there, this is the interesting little point. I do not know exactly where I would land on this, trying to put some points out there. Some will even go this far: they will say that Paul, when he spent—we are not sure exactly how long—in Arabia. Some argue exactly what part or location that Arabia was, but some think right there by Damascus. Some will even say that Jesus Himself tutored him there. He does mention “flesh and blood,” what men [taught him]; he does not confer with all that. They will use back over there in Galatians 1. Look at verse number 11 there. Verse number 11: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Now, I will let you study that out and come to a conclusion on your own. Some believe that. I do not think it is a cardinal doctrine, so I am not going to debate it, you know. But some do think that even to that point that Jesus trained him.
Here is what I am getting at. Here is what I am getting. I am just going to give you an illustration. We are going to move on. Years ago, we had a man in our church that really just got on fire for the Lord. It was exciting to see. He was excited; God had done a work. He was middle-aged and coming out of some sinful things in his life, but he was excited, and he felt like God was calling him to preach. I was excited about that, but he wanted to just boom—got on fire for the Lord—and tomorrow he wanted to be holding citywide revivals and campaigns. He was excited about that and just ready to just boom. His example was: Paul got saved, man, he is preaching right away, and he is meeting with the people in Jerusalem and all that. I said, “No, no, no, brother,” because there are three years in between him getting saved. And yes, he preached. I encouraged the man. In fact, I think for a little while, he did preach in the nursing homes. Now, man, let us get you busy. If you want to preach, let us get you preaching somewhere. Get him to bust around. Get a Sunday school class, do something. “Find a stump in the woods to preach.” Just preach somewhere. I like that.
But you do not always start boom, and Paul did not either. It took three years for Paul to grow up a point. It took three years for him to get your ground. And now he did go to Jerusalem, but by then he had grown a little bit. Listen, a newborn baby does not grow overnight. The first nine months of that baby being born, that baby does fries, eats. Yeah, it makes dirty diapers, you know. It takes a while for Christians. Be patient with yourself, maybe. Nobody grows overnight. And other Christians maybe that you get to, they are not going to grow overnight. It took Paul three years rather to grow a little bit, and then he did go to Jerusalem there.
Now, let us go back. Let us go back. We are in verse number 26 of Acts 9. Y’all in verse number 26? Acts 9, verse number 26. We are going to get this last thing, a little challenge here, all right? We have got some doctrine: Baptism does not save (Mark 16:16, 1 Corinthians 1:17, even the cross). We got a little wisdom there: it is going to take time for you to grow. Boom, you are not going to be overnight. It is going to take you some time to grow, all right? For all of us and for those young converts, especially.
Now, one last thing, all right? We are in Acts 9, looking at verse number 26. You all there? Amen? Verse number 26: “And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.” But Barnabas—that is a wonderful wording—but Barnabas. Help me out. Remember Barnabas was over there in the chapter before? The apostle surnamed him Barnabas. What was his first name in the Bible? Joseph. Yeah. And remember he sold that land and gave all the money to the church. By the way, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” That is how you get a man like this. He sold all that land. This is a guy nobody wants to meet with—Saul is killing people—but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, that He had spoken to him, how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was with him coming in and going out at Jerusalem.
I think about it: What if there was no Barnabas? By the way, when he first got saved, he was still blind, but a guy named Ananias said, “I do not go to him. That guy has a reputation.” And I said, “No, no, you go.” He went and put his hands on him. He did not just say, “Well, I am going to stay here. I will watch him for a while; I will see if it is real.” He put his hands on him. He called him “Brother Saul,” and the scales fell off.
Now, later on, he goes to Jerusalem, and he is going to meet with the apostles and the early church leaders. He is the twelfth Apostle, if you will, you know, but he was not accepted, but Barnabas was. Hey, I wonder if someone in your world needs a Barnabas. I wonder, in our day and time, it is rare if you reach someone middle-aged or older and a couple comes to a church; it is almost rare if they are married nowadays. Come on now. That is just where we are at. I am for not living in sin, amen, but friend, you cannot get them to home plate unless you give them first base.
When I sat down on that airplane, I had already been watching. You know how it is; you are waiting to get on that plane. I am not one of those guys that line up three hours ahead of time. I am like, “We are all going to get on the plane.” Nowadays, everybody has their seats assigned anyway. I mean, I am going to wait and sit over here and enjoy my sugar-free Dr. Pepper, amen. I am going to let the line die down, then I will get up. Why do that? So we were doing that, and I had seen this fellow—I am not trying to be mean—but tattoos all over. They had been to Nashville to party, and he and his friends, you could tell that. I was kind of watching their group a little bit, and lo and behold, he is my partner on the plane, right there beside me. He orders some alcoholic beverage. His first thing he did, he said, “You want me to buy you one?” And I said, “As long as you do not promise to tell the deacons of Brother [Pastor] at Calvary Baptist Church.” I could have gotten offended and said, “I do not drink, buddy.” You know what I said? I said, “Thank you for offering. That stuff is expensive.”
His partner across the aisle, and you can tell… But you know what? Listen to this quote. It is a good quote; it is not original with me: “Acceptance is the optimum environment for growth.” I just accepted him for what he was, and we formed a little friendship. I told him my wife was mad at me too. No, I did not tell him. But we formed a friendship, and praise the Lord, before he left that seat, he asked Jesus Christ to be his Savior.
Friend, I am just saying there are Barnabases that are needed all over. Even homosexuals—yes, every once in a while I am going to preach on it, and even every once in a while I am going to mention Romans 1 where it calls it vile—but if you condemn them and beat them over the head, you are probably driving them farther away from the cross. Let us just be honest about it. Do I like it? No. Does it bother me? Yes. I want them to get saved and get to Jesus, and Jesus can change them. Everybody said, “Saul, I do not want anything to do with Saul. He is just like the—I mean, he is breathing out threatening.” It is like it is ever breathed. He is living and eating, and now I want to—I want to get the church and Christians—and everybody wanted to shun him: the apostles, the higher-ups.
I wonder if that lady at the cash register over there at the Dollar General, maybe instead of us saying, “She needs to get some of those piercings out,” maybe you love her a little bit, and she might get saved. Our church is good about this, but hey, can I just mention something? Be very careful of racial slurs. Sometimes we think we are just being funny. I grew up down South, friend, born in Tennessee, raised in Florida. Barnabas. Ananias. Oh, they reached him. If it was not for them, I wonder if we would have had the great Paul, who wrote 13, 14 books of the Bible.
I do not like it. I do not like it. Somebody comes to our church dressed very immodestly either. But friend, they may grow in the Lord and get things right if we do not know. What about you? You might want to give a little time to grow. What if Ananias and Barnabas would have been like that? We might not have a great Paul. Sometimes before you even address those issues, they need a little love. And Christ—I like the philosophy: We catch them, He cleans them in, and we will preach truth. We will preach against immodesty.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - ＂Doctrine Wisdom and A Challenge From Acts 9＂ Wednesday PM 08⧸06⧸2025 [vDvg2Sga1Ls]